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Sat, 28 Oct 2000, 01:52 PM

HOUSTON-2 - Funny Car Qualifying Notes, Session #3

By Darryl Jackman

BAYTOWN, Texas - Notes from round 3 qualifying in Funny Car at the 4th annual Matco Tools SuperNationals presented by Racing Champions listing lane, driver name, elapsed time/top speed this round, position in order following run, best prior elapsed time/speed, and position in order prior to run:

Right Lane: Don Sosenko Runs 5.500/274.39, Now #16; Best prior run: 5.991/258.86, Was #18

1:01 PM We begin the first session of the day with a single by Don Sosenko. The burnout is a bit weak and it sounds like the engine pulled down pretty hard at the end. Well, he resets his season best and moves onto the bump spot.

Left Lane: Todd Paton Runs 9.572/90.52, Now #24; Best prior run: 11.790/78.55, Was #25
Right Lane: Scott Weis Runs 6.465/141.86, Now #6; Best prior run: 5.057/293.22, Was #6

Both cars leave hard with Paton carding a .926 60 foot number and a .930 for Weis. By half track both cars were loose and starting to smoke the tires. Both drivers called it off.

Left Lane: Dale Creasy Jr. Runs 10.785/84.89, Now #14; Best prior run: 5.231/273.27, Was #13
Right Lane: Whit Bazemore Runs 5.134/271.79, Now #11; Best prior run: 10.241/88.51, Was #25

Bazemore is having a very tough weekend up to this point. I'm sure the team would like to erase the first two and start over. Well, that was close to what happened. Manzer says he softened the car up and took what he could get. Creasy says in but this run is a throw away with tire smoke at the transition.

Left Lane: Louis Sweet Runs 5.465/196.04, Now #18; Best prior run: 9.136/89.56, Was #23
Right Lane: Cristen Powell Runs 5.166/270.86, Now #13; Best prior run: 9.114/90.91, Was #22

Cristen gets in but their was a big flash of flame from underneath the car as she neared the finish line. She coasts to a stop with no obvious ill effects. Sweet improves but is still outside the show. Scotty Cannon is bumped from the field and that makes Del Worsham his replacement.

Left Lane: Ron Capps Runs 12.870/78.75, Now #4; Best prior run: 5.007/275.00, Was #4
Right Lane: Cory Lee Runs 8.513/106.44, Now #22; Best prior run: 8.731/104.02, Was #22

A pair of tire smokers.

Left Lane: Tommy Johnson Jr. Runs 4.991/293.41, Now #5; Best prior run: 9.070/89.45, Was #23
Right Lane: Dean Skuza Runs 4.948/298.73, Now #4; Best prior run: 5.061/302.08, Was #8

Wow, a pair of nice runs. Tommy Johnson was right down the middle but appeared to kill a few pistons in the lights. According to the team this is their first oildown of the season. By the way, 'Texas Stage Coach' appears on the hood of the Firebird this weekend. Skuza was even better in the right lane. After a tough start to the weekend Dean moves into the #4 spot with a clean, quick pass. The TJ pass bumped Worsham and puts Creasy on the bubble.

Left Lane: Bruce Sarver Runs 5.044/280.02, Now #2; Best prior run: 4.945/308.85, Was #2
Right Lane: Jerry Toliver Runs 4.985/305.22, Now #5; Best prior run: 5.893/156.90, Was #22

Sarver remains in the #2 spot but he gets no help on this pass. It appeared the fire went out about 1000 feet into the run after the started hazing the tires. Toliver moves from almost the bottom of the field into the top half. He too was hazing the tires from after half track.

Left Lane: Gary Densham Runs 8.200/102.08, Now #23; Best prior run: 9.179/100.02, Was #24
Right Lane: Frank Pedregon Runs 4.949/305.84, Now #5; Best prior run: 5.651/175.84, Was #22

Frank Pedregon puts the CSK Pontiac into the field and bumps Tim Wilkerson. Densham left hard but smoked the tires about 400 feet out.

Left Lane: Scotty Cannon Runs 5.089/270.05, Now #13; Best prior run: 5.371/226.24, Was #20
Right Lane: Tim Wilkerson Runs 5.196/299.46, Now #18; Best prior run: 5.193/223.50, Was #17

Cannon was bumped earlier in the session and repays the favor by taking Cristen Powell out of the field. The car seemed to nose over on the top end and the speed seems to indicate just that. Wilkerson just missed getting back into the field and only manages the #18 position.

Left Lane: Del Worsham Runs 5.112/261.32, Now #15; Best prior run: 5.335/186.58, Was #20
Right Lane: Bob Gilbertson Runs 5.402/199.79, Now #17; Best prior run: 5.138/260.01, Was #16

Worsham manages to get back into the field, but he's very near the bottom. Gilbertson had his chance but he is bumped by Worsham's pass. Whit Bazemore is the next person to hold on to the bottom rung of the ladder.

Left Lane: Al Hofmann Runs 5.032/288.15, Now #11; Best prior run: 5.059/295.98, Was #11
Right Lane: Johnny Gray Runs 5.022/297.42, Now #9; Best prior run: 5.085/295.40, Was #12

Gray sets his career best performance numbers on this pass and moves up a few positions in the field. Hofmann picks up about two hundredths but makes no headway in the field. The Mooneyes car was starting to smoke the tires as he neared the finish and he did pedal it at least once.

Left Lane: Phil Burkart Runs 5.255/285.47, Now #14; Best prior run: 5.093/302.01, Was #14
Right Lane: John Force Runs 4.931/310.84, Now #2; Best prior run: 5.024/296.31, Was #10

Force makes a big move and steps up to the #2 spot. Burkart gave it a game effort but he put a hole out very early into the run and it appeared to drive him all over the lane. He remains in the field with one qualifying round to go.

Left Lane: Tony Pedregon Runs 6.885/139.20, Now #4; Best prior run: 4.948/304.39, Was #4
Right Lane: Jim Epler Runs 4.892/309.91, Now #1; Best prior run: 4.917/264.86, Was #1

Epler puts a gold star on his number one spot and he raises the bar even higher in the Stone Cold Steve Austin WWF racer. This one looked even nicer than the pass last night as their was not even a hint of an engine problem on this pass. Tony was right with Epler right until half track. At that point the tires started smoking and he decided to click it off. That finishes off the third round and we have Epler on the pole and Bazemore on the bubble.